DUST
by Ingrid.L
Summary: When Izanami returns to Konoha, she is thrown into a whirlpool of her past life. She will now have to face who she left behind, all the memories and feelings she once had will regenerate, just like timeless dust.


You shouldn't be here. Why are you still here? Haven't you worked it out yet?

"But I, I'm the only one left.. I don't want to go back!"

You must go back. They need you, you know that.

"No.. Please-let me rest. Just let me rest…"

It's not your time. They're coming. You have to be ready.

Darkness.

It's late afternoon- approaching evening, and Konoha is still blazing. The heat of the sun clings onto the land till late night. It's a still and breathless heat, almost suffocating.

Taking her time, she ambles towards the entrance of the village. Reaching the entrance, she stops, hands on hips, and takes a breath. It's too quiet. What an earth happened to shock her beloved village?

*

"Did you hear? She's back! Kotetsu and Izumo saw her pass through."

"Who?"

"You know, .. the monster."

"Don't speak of him like that, Naruto is our hero!"

"I don't mean him, I mean .."

Regular bar hearsay. Well At least Konoha still gossips. Sitting quietly at a corner she sips sake and listens. A monster huh? It's too late to run errands, or see old friends or report to the hokage. After a good night's rest, she decides its better leave the meet and greet for tomorrow. No sign of Tenzo or Kakashi tonight. No friendly welcome, where are they? On missions?

"Nami? Nami!" the voice of woman's.

"Shizune?" she responds turning her head.

"Izanami, It is you!" the girls greet ."Long time no see.." Shizune sighs.

That night, the women talked for a very long time- till the bar closed. Izanami finally found out how fellow Jichuuriki Naruto had saved the village from destruction and how brave and talented he was as a ninja. She was informed on Akatsuki and their benefactor Uchiha Madara. Everything Shizune said shocked and overwhelmed Izanami to no end.

"Jiraiya was killed…"

"No..!" Izanami sighed. "How's Tsunade?"

"I think you need to see for yourself". Shizune frowned.

Shizune and Izanami made their way through central Konoha, still beaming with nightlife, to a scarred post war zone where the Hokage residence once stood. Seeing it like this- Izanami felt despair for her homeland. In the middle of the field stood two tents, one smaller than the other. Shizune made her way to the larger tent and Izanami followed.

On a tatami mat, lay a frail creature, almost unrecognisable to Izanami. She bent down to her.

"Tsunade…"

Shizune sat down too. "She's been unconscious for almost a month now.. She won't react to a thing. I don't know what to do."

"She's in a coma, which means that when she fell into it, she was in a lot of physical strain. But at the moment, it is her emotional and mental state that is damaged and it's preventing her from waking up."

"Nami, isn't there anything we can do?"

"We have to try.." Izanami's eyes began to fill, "it's hard to see her like this you know?".

Shizune embraced her friend, "it's hard for all of us- she's our leader."

"Who is ruling now? The Daimyo?"

"No, Danzo, from fou-"

"Foundation, I know. I can't believe it." Izanami intervened.

"Izanami…"

A violent silence fell. Izanami knew she should have been here when Pain attacked Konoha.

The two women stayed by Tsunade's side through till the morning. Early the next day, Shizune urged Izanami to finally get some rest.

Izanami woke up past noon. She sat up unable to recognise the small bedroom. Standing up, and opening the door, she remembered that this was Tsunade's old apartment. Tsunade's apartment before she became hokage or ran away from Konoha. Tsunade had owned this house a while ago, back when she was sensei to a much younger Izanami.

In the lounge Shizune had left a note saying that she had gone back to look after Tsunade and that there was enough food for Izanami left in the fridge.

After a shower and breakfast Izanami left the house.

Jumping from one roof to another, she saw how much Konoha had changed. Pain's attack had left severe damages to the terrain but there was also an unmistakable sense or development and regeneration through the city. New businesses were opening up; shops that Izanami couldn't remember being there before. She saw young ninja throughout the city, helping out or training. Konoha's determination to restablish itself was heart warming- there was hope after all. Another striking thing Izanami noticed was the new construction around Konoha. Strong wooden pillars stood newly, all build in a similar fashion. The architecture was undoubtedly Tenzo's. She knew this much. However the buildings were marked under Yamato industries. Maybe it was worth getting into contact with this Yamato. Konoha had changed a lot, even for the 3 years that she had been away.

Upon reaching Tsunade's tent she was greeted by Shizune.

"I've checked her temperature, her blood and chakra flow and fed her". Shizune said later over tea.

"Shizune, you're the best med-nin there is." Izanami smiled taking a sip.

A few minutes passed the women remained quiet. They both felt the urge to mention the unmentionable but it was proving difficult to articulate. Then Shizune spoke, "Nami? Why on earth haven't you asked me?"

" What do you mean?"

"You know perfectly well. You haven't asked me about Kakashi or Tenzo. Don't you care about them anymore?!"

"Shizune…"

"I know, but I need to know. When Tsunade became hokage, she gained information on your team- Team Kakashi. But even she, being your teacher, did not have much information on you other than formal reports from missions. Something happened to make you disappear."

Izanami frowned.

"After studying your file, she said something peculiar.."

"What was it?" Izanami clasped her hands.

"She said, 'The third always knew-that's why he let her go freely'. I couldn't understand what this meant, but Tsunade did. She acted as your surrogate mother since you came to Konoha afterall. Izzi, Why won't you tell me?!"

"Izzi.. I haven't been called that in a very long time.." Izanami looked away. She was listening, but her mind was oozing with memories of the past. "Shizune, I'll tell you. But it's going to be a long story alright? Are you willing to listen to it all?"

"Of course!"

"Just to let you know, I never open myself up like this, so you better appreciate it!"

"Of course! Ha, I will" Shizune cheered.

"I was found by Tsunade when I was around 5 in the Land of the Whirlpool. My homeland was destroyed by the third great ninja war and as far as I know I have no living relatives. The only person who shared my name was Kushina Uzumaki but I heard she's been dead for a while now. Everyone was dumbfounded to see a little girl survive the war when the rest of my clan was destroyed."

Izanami sipped some tea. "I was taken to Konoha and presented to the fourth, who was ruling at the time. He knew immediately that I was no ordinary child and ordered that I should be tested on."

"Did you resent him for that?" Shizune interrupted.

"No actually. I was treated very well and he made sure I was looked after properly. See, the fourth had just become a father then so he was very sympathetic towards me.

Anyway, the doctors and med-nins understood that I had a much deeper chakra within me however they could not extract it. It was impossible for them- they tried everything. Sometimes they would train me to use my chakra so the other chakra could seep through. But all that happened was that a seal would appear on my back. A seal that they could not undo. The fourth himself had studied my seal -but to no avail. It is even said that the seal on Naruto's belly was designed from mine. As if, Namikaze sama planned Naruto's fate from the start. Then, Konoha was attacked by the Kyuubi. The fourth died, and I felt that I had lost a part of me. I cried and cried and it activated my chakra."

"What happened?" Chimed Shizune.

"I flooded an entire area of the city- I don't know if I killed anyone- but there was a lot of damage done.. I had eradicated the village with an unknown water release that I didn't know I had. It was after this time that I became known as monster, just like Naruto. The Third took action immediately. He put me under Tsunade's care and ordered her to train me how to control my chakra. Things quietened down then…

With her, my life was bliss. She cared about me and I began to make a lot of progress. She and the Third said I had real talent, and that I would make a great kunoichi one day.

But then, Dan died and she snapped. She was unable to look after me or herself. Soon enough she was gone, with you chasing after her."

"Izanami.. Forgive me!" Shizune bowed.

"Shizune, it's alright.. I don't blame her and I never did. She needed to get away... I could feel her energy dying day by day, she was going to die if she stayed. I begged and begged to go with her , but she needed me to stay. I was too young she said, and I needed to stay with old Sarutobi. She was right. She was in no shape to offer a young girl like me anything. She did the right thing Shizune."

"Izanami… So what happened then?"

"Sarutobi sama would not allow me to enter the ninja academy. I really hated him for this. I had no friends and I was always alone. He was restricting me of ever making any bonds with others. But now I realise that he was right. I was a ticking time bomb at that age, and any irregular jutsu would have meant my chakra exploding. I thought I found it hard to control my chakra but my carers had no clue whatsoever. So from 8 to 14 I was trained only by the best tokubetsu jonin. The Third became a grandfather figure to me and I even made friends- but none were my age. I'm sorry, this is awfully long. Do you still want to listen?"

"Yes, please, continue."

"The great thing was, I had gained enormous stability over my powers. Tsunade had taught me the basics, and I continued to train hard. When I finally began to control my chakra, I realised that I had a lot more of it than others, and that I was able to execute powerful jutsus without exhausting myself. My speciality was water, of course. However with this new power, I was carefully watched and I understood why. They thought that I was planning to run away to Orochimaru and many power craved autocrats. They weren't completely wrong. I wanted to go see you and Tsunade. I wanted to tell her that I missed her, and that I wanted to show her how much I improved. The Third finally confronted me. He said that he would not allow it. He said that even though I had improved, I had a long way to go and that they still hadn't discovered the mysterious chakra that lingered in me."

Izanami took a deep breath.

"Are you alright continuing?" Shizune put her hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Yes I'm fine."

"So what did the Third do then?"

"He registered me into ANBU. I was a jonin level ninja at the age of 15. I had grown early too and had a womanly figure. Normally, people would say I was around 18-19. I don't mean to be arrogant, but I was growing into a beautiful kunoichi. I was given enough attention from men, and the girls would admire my beauty. I couldn't care less though. This was probably because I wasn't any good socially and didn't understand the importance of being beautiful. Anyway, so I agreed to enter ANBU, since it was the next best thing to help me develop my powers further. And of course, that's when my life changed again. Who do you think was ANBU captain at this time?"

"…Kakashi."

Izanami smiled. "I'm sorry, can we continue with this after a break?" she began to yawn.

It was a while since she had spoken so much.


End file.
